January 3 - 7, 2005

• SECURITY
  • IDF Targets Palestinians Responsible for Mortar Firing
  • 5 Anti-Aircraft Missiles Smuggled into Gaza
  • 12 Soldiers Wounded in Qassam Attack on IDF Base
  • Palestinian Infiltrator Killed in Central Gaza
  • Israeli Killed, 4 Wounded in Shooting Attack near Nablus
  • Egypt Violating Airspace
• TSUNAMI RELIEF EFFORTS
  • Israeli Citizens Send Tons of Food to Tsunami-Hit Areas
• DIPLOMACY
  • Turkish Foreign Minister Visits Israel
• PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS
  • Abbas Says He Will Not Fight Terror Groups
  • Large EU Group to Monitor PA Elections
  • Abbas Calls Israel 'The Zionist Enemy'
  • Abbas Calls for Resumption of Peace Talks with Sharon
  • Preparations For Sunday's Palestinian Elections Completed
• COALITION NEGOTIATIONS
  • New Unity Government May Be Presented Monday
• JEWISH WORLD
  • 1,200 Jewish Youths Participate in Studies Fair at TA University
  • 1,000 'Birthright' Alumni Now Live in Israel
• HOME
  • IDF Destroys Illegal Outpost Amidst Settler Protests
  • PM Sharon: Harming of Security Forces by Settlers Will Not Be Tolerated
  • IDF Officers Who Refuse to Carry Out Pullout Orders Will Be Discharged
  • Officers Back Away from Refusal to Evacuate Settlements

SECURITY

IDF Targets Palestinians Responsible for Mortar Firing
Tuesday, January 4, 2005

Responding to mortar attacks by Palestinian terrorists, Israel Defense Forces soldiers fired tank shells into Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip this morning, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, reported. Military sources said soldiers fired from tanks at a group of masked Palestinians preparing to launch mortars from a farming area. Earlier on, four mortar shells had been launched at an Israeli school bus at the Erez crossing, lightly wounding two people accompanying the children. Two shells landed close to the bus, damaging the vehicle. Seven Palestinians were killed during the IDF actions, including Hamas members.
Following the incident, Palestinians fired five Qassam rockets from Gaza at the southern Negev town of Sderot, causing no casualties or damage. Two rockets were also fired at Sderot before the attack.
Palestinian groups have stepped up mortar and rocket attacks against Israel ahead of the January 9th Palestinian elections.
In the West Bank, near Jenin, paratroopers arrested today, Elial Yassin, a senior Islamic Jihad member suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks against Israelis.

 

5 Anti-Aircraft Missiles Smuggled into Gaza
Tuesday, January 4, 2005

Five shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles have recently been smuggled into the Gaza Strip via arms-smuggling tunnels, Israel Security Agency chief Avi Dichter told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today, HA'ARETZ reported. Dichter said the presence of Israel Defense Forces troops in Gaza had not prevented the extensive arms smuggling from Egypt to Gaza, and said IDF troops should be deployed in the area from which Qassam rockets were launched so as to prevent rocket attacks.
Dichter also warned today that a withdrawal of IDF troops from the Philadelphi Route, the narrow strip of land between Gaza and Egypt, would turn southern Israel into southern Lebanon.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intends to withdraw Israeli settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip by the end of the year, although he plans to leave Israeli forces in the Philadelphi Route for an indefinite period of time after the withdrawal.

 

12 Soldiers Wounded in Qassam Attack on IDF Base
Wednesday, January 5, 2005

Twelve soldiers were wounded and damage was caused to a number of buildings after two Qassam rockets were fired at an army base next to the northern Gaza security fence this morning, HA'ARETZ reported. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. All of the wounded were evacuated to the Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva or the Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon by Magen David Adom. One soldier was described as being seriously injured after being hit in the head and chest in the attack. A number of buildings in the base, which is near the Nahal Oz kibbutz, were also damaged from the force of the blast.
The incident is the seventh attack so far today, confirming the forecast by security officials that Palestinian terror organizations would increase their activity ahead of the Palestinian January 9th elections.
This afternoon, a mortar shell hit an Israeli town in the northern Gaza Strip. No one was wounded and no damage was reported in the attack. In a separate incident, a mortar shell landed across from an educational institution in Gush Katif, causing no damage or casualties. Earlier today, one mortar shell was fired at an Israeli town in northern Gaza. There were no injuries, but one building was damaged. Two Qassams were fired at Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip and the western Negev causing no injuries but damaging a building in a kibbutz.

 

Palestinian Infiltrator Killed in Central Gaza
Thursday, January 6, 2005

Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot and killed an armed terrorist who infiltrated into the hothouse area of Ganei Tal in the central Gaza Strip at around 6 AM today, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, reported. The terrorist set off an electric fence alarm surrounding the Jewish town, which prompted soldiers to intercept him.
Meanwhile, the Fatah leadership in the West Bank and Gaza called on Hamas to stop firing rockets against Israeli targets so as to avoid Israel's military response. The Fatah leadership also called on Hamas to end personal verbal attacks on PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas, who is running for the chairmanship of the Palestinian Authority on January 9th.
At least ten mortar shells were fired at Gush Katif towns in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Hamas took responsibility for Wednesday's rocket attack on an IDF base in the Gaza Strip that wounded 12 soldiers.

 

Israeli Killed, 4 Wounded in Shooting Attack near Nablus
Friday, January 7, 2005

One Israeli was killed and three were wounded this afternoon when two Palestinian gunmen fired at an Israeli car traveling between the Tapuah and Migdalim Junctions near Nablus on the West Bank, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. One of the passengers, who suffered critical wounds, died of his wounds at the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva. Another passenger was in serious condition and the remaining two sustained moderate wounds, Nir Yiffet, a Magen David Adom paramedic said. The terrorists linked to Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the shooting. The gunmen managed to escape.
In other news, an Israel Defense Forces soldier was lightly wounded by Palestinian stone throwers near Beit Omar north of Hebron earlier today. The soldier was taken to Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem for treatment.
Ten mortar shells were fired into the western Negev and Israeli towns in central and southern Gaza this morning. No one was wounded in any of the incidents but damage was caused to several houses.

 

Egypt Violating Airspace
Friday, January 7, 2005

Unauthorized Egyptian passenger aircraft have been increasingly violating Israel's airspace near Eilat, prompting the Israel Air Force to station Hawk anti-aircraft missile batteries and fighter planes close by, ready to shoot down the Egyptian planes if they take a hostile turn, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The beefed-up air defense is also there to deal with potential attacks by Saudi Arabian F-15s, deployed at the Tobuq air base just 200 kilometers away despite Israeli protests. Israel has received intelligence that al-Qaida has recruited Saudi fighter pilots and it fears they could stage a 9/11-type surprise attack.
The air force, which is on constant alert for potential suicide aircraft, has been increasingly on edge over the past few months as the unapproved Egyptian violations have multiplied. In the past six months, there have been at least 25 unauthorized penetrations of Israeli airspace by Egyptian aircraft. All of them have been by passenger jets, not military aircraft. The matter has been taken up "at the highest levels," but so far the Egyptians appear to have done nothing to stop it.

 

TSUNAMI RELIEF EFFORTS

Israeli Citizens Send Tons of Food to Tsunami-Hit Areas
Wednesday, January 5, 2005

Israelis have come out in full force for a four-day nationwide campaign at the nation's supermarkets to collect food to be sent to the Tsunami disaster zones in South Asia, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The mobilization, which began on Monday, was organized by Magen David Adom with the backing of its branch in the United States. At the end of the first day, MDA reported that the Israeli public in both Jewish and Arab sectors had donated 2.5 tons of flour, 4 tons of rice, 920 liters of oil, 2.5 tons of sugar, 1.5 tons of plain pasta, 39, 000 liters of mineral water, 900 kilos of dried beans and 700 kilos of jams and conserves.
"We had initially chosen just two days for the food drive, but the response has been so incredible, that we've decided to extend it for another two days and ship the goods on Friday from Ashdod", said Israeli Magen David Adom's International Director, Mr. Yoni Yagodovsky.
Working closely with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, more than 4,000 MDA workers and volunteers stood outside the supermarkets and shopping malls collecting the food.
Meanwhile, according to Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, Minister of Health Danny Naveh is complying with a request from Sri Lanka to send mental health experts to the devastated regions of the country. More than 30,000 people died and one million were left homeless in Sri Lanka as a result of the tsunami aftermaths.

More about Israel's efforts to help the victims of the Tsunami at www.mfa.gov.il

 

DIPLOMACY

Turkish Foreign Minister Visits Israel
Monday, January 3, 2005

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was scheduled to arrive in Israel today in what is the highest-level visit by a Turkish official since the Islamic-based Justice and Development Party came to power in November 2002, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Gul's visit follows a rough year in Israel-Turkey relations, strained by a series of anti-Israeli comments over the spring and summer by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A senior Israeli diplomatic official said Gul's visit was an important element to help warm up relations, and added the Foreign Ministry did not intend to raise the issue of Erdogan's comments, saying it was now "water under the bridge."
Despite last year's tension, ties between Israel and Turkey continue to grow, with non-military trade reaching some $1.7 billion, up by $300 million from 2003.
Gul's visit is widely considered as preparatory for a trip by Erdogan in the near future. Gul is to meet Tuesday with President Moshe Katsav, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom, Minister of Industry and Trade Ehud Olmert and Labor Party leader Shimon Peres. On Wednesday, Gul is scheduled to go to Ramallah for talks with PA leaders.

 

PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS

Abbas Says He Will Not Fight Terror Groups
Monday, January 3, 2005

PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas vowed in a campaign speech today never to take up arms against Palestinian terror groups, HA'ARETZ reported. Abbas, who in the past criticized the use of bombs and rifles against Israelis, has repeatedly hailed terror group members as heroes throughout his campaign for the PA chairmanship.
Israel has demanded that Abbas, if elected, curb and disarm terrorists. Reining in armed groups is also a key element of the road map.
In the campaign speech made today, Abbas said he was determined to ensure that the rule of law prevailed in the Palestinian territories, but he added that this goal would be achieved through "dialogue and discussion" as he pursued national unity. "Palestinians taking up arms against each other will not happen," Abbas pledged. "They are freedom fighters and should live a dignified and safe life," Abbas stressed.
A call by Abbas to end violence was rejected weeks ago by terror groups whose support he is courting in the January 9th election.
Meanwhile, Israel said it would allow Abbas to visit East Jerusalem as part of his campaign if he decided to do so.

 

Large EU Group to Monitor PA Elections
Monday, January 3, 2005

The European Union is finalizing preparations to field 260 observers for the January 9th Palestinian Authority presidential elections, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. A total of 167 observers will arrive in Jerusalem on Tuesday to join the European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM), which began its work in the West Bank and Gaza almost a month ago. On election day, 260 EUEOM observers will cover all 16 electoral districts, making the mission the largest international observer group present. The 167 observers are boosting an international team led by a Chief Observer, Michel Rocard, a former Prime Minister of France and current Member of the European Parliament. The EUEOM to the West Bank and Gaza was established in Ramallah on December 8th following an invitation by the Palestinian Central Elections Commission to observe the PA presidential election.

 

Abbas Calls Israel 'The Zionist Enemy'
Tuesday, January 4, 2005

PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas, who is the leading candidate in the elections for the Palestinian Authority Chairmanship to be held on January 9th, called Israel the "Zionist enemy" today in what marked a sharp escalation of his campaign rhetoric, HA'ARETZ reported. Speaking to thousands of supporters after an IDF retaliatory strike killed seven Palestinians in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, Abbas said: "We came to you today, while we are praying for the souls of the martyrs who were killed today by the shells of the Zionist enemy in Beit Lahiya."
While Abbas is considered a moderate and has the tacit support of Israel and the United States, he has in recent days been courting terror group members, campaigning in Palestinian areas that have been the hardest hit by four years of fighting.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom expressed his disappointment with Abbas' latest statements today, which he branded as "the kind that hasn't been heard in a long time."
"We cannot accept the argument that Abbas' statements stem from campaigning motives," Shalom said, adding that Israel expects Abbas to stamp out the firing of Qassam rockets into Israeli territory.

 

Abbas Calls for Resumption of Peace Talks with Sharon
Thursday, January 6, 2005

PLO chief and Palestinian Authority chairman candidate Mahmoud Abbas said today that he considered Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a partner for peace talks and called for an immediate resumption of negotiations after the Palestinian election, HA'ARETZ reported. Despite a series of recent hard-line speeches and campaign appearances with Palestinian gunmen, Abbas, the front-runner in the race, is showing signs that he plans to reach out to Israel after Sunday's election.
"After the elections, we will start negotiations," Abbas told a news conference in Nablus, the West Bank's largest city.
Asked whether Sharon was a partner, Abbas said: "Ariel Sharon is an elected leader and we will negotiate with him. We will put the road map on the table and say that we are ready to implement it completely," he said.

 

Preparations For Sunday's Palestinian Elections Completed
Friday, January 7, 2005

The Palestinian Authority Central Election Committee said Thursday that preparations for Sunday's vote to elect the future PA Chairman had been completed, HA'ARETZ reported. According to data provided by the committee, 1,757,756 eligible voters will cast their votes in 1,072 centers in the territories, where a total of 2,800 ballot boxes will await them. Some 800 foreign observers have arrived representing various countries and non-governmental organizations, joining some 20,000 local observers representing the candidates and various Palestinian organizations.
Meanwhile, Mustafa Barghouti, a candidate in Sunday's election, was briefly detained by police today as he tried to enter the Old City of Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the last day of campaigning. Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said Barghouti, who ranks a distant second in polls, had violated an agreement not to campaign at the sensitive mosque compound, where thousands of people pray on Fridays. Leading candidate Mahmoud Abbas canceled a campaign stop to Jerusalem today.
Israel Defense Forces troops will halt operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as of Saturday, to avoid interfering with Sunday's elections. However, the IDF said it would work to stop a "ticking bomb" if it found out that Palestinians were about to attack an Israeli target.

 

COALITION NEGOTIATIONS

New Unity Government May Be Presented Monday
Thursday, January 6, 2005

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to present his new Likud-Labor-Torah Judaism unity government on Monday, with a coalition that could command 66 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, HA'ARETZ reported. The coalition negotiations finally came to an apparent end on Wednesday, after a decision by Rabbi Shalom Elyashiv, spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox UTJ, to accept a "conditional" three-month trial period during which his party would join the government, but without holding any ministerial portfolios. During the course of the three months, Elyashiv will assess whether Sharon keeps his promise to grant funds to Haredi educational institutes, and will decide whether the party will remain in the coalition.
The Labor party has already agreed to enter the government. Along with Likud's 40 Knesset seats and Labor's 21, UTJ's five seats will give Sharon a majority in the 120-seat parliament for the first time since early December, when Shinui ministers were fired after they failed to vote in favor of the state budget.

 

JEWISH WORLD

1,200 Jewish Youths Participate in Studies Fair at TA University
Monday, January 3, 2005

Some 1,200 Jewish youths from around the world participated in an Israel studies fair at Tel Aviv University Sunday that helped kick off Project Masa ("Journey"), a joint initiative of the government and the Jewish Agency that aims to bring thousands of young Jews from around the world to study in Israel for a semester or a year, HA'ARETZ reported. Some 1,500 Jewish students are currently studying in Israel, and the Jewish Agency hopes to raise the number to 2,500 in the next academic year. In 2000, prior to the start of Palestinian violence, some 4,000 foreign students were enrolled in Israeli universities.
Aaron Goldberg, the associate director of the Hillel Jewish campus organization's Israel department, said many American universities made it hard for Jewish students who wanted to study here. He said universities were concerned about providing insurance coverage for students living in Israel, but that pressure from Jewish student groups had helped several universities revise such policies.

 

1,000 'Birthright' Alumni Now Live in Israel
Tuesday, January 4, 2005

One thousand birthright Israel alumni are now living in Israel as immigrants, soldiers or students, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Officials at birthright, a five-year-old program dedicated to encouraging Jews aged 18-26 to connect with the country and their heritage through free 10-day trips, said Monday that the program had sent some 75,000 young Jews from 40 countries to Israel. Birthright calculates that prior to the program's inception, only 1,200 18- to 26-year-old Jews came to Israel on educational programs each year.
This winter, 8,500 are making the trip. Benjamin Seifert, who currently is on a Birthright trip in Israel, said he intended to return to Israel next summer to volunteer. Seifert, who now studies opera at the Royal Academy of Music in London, said the training he received in modern languages at Oxford had given him a familiarity with many foreign cultures. Yet, he noted, "I've never felt I've connected as much with a country as with Israel."
He added that the trip had also changed his image of the country, which he had been "very nervous" about visiting. "I though it was almost like going into a war zone, but I feel very safe," he said, mentioning that he planned to share his experience with family and friends and provide them with a more accurate picture of the place.

 

HOME

IDF Destroys Illegal Outpost Amidst Settler Protests
Monday, January 3, 2005

In a surprise operation almost 500 Israel Defense Forces troops and police dismantled the unauthorized outpost of Givat Shalhevet in the Nablus area, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Upon their arrival at the outpost site, security forces were met by some 200 settlers who threw stones at them. Givat Shalhevet, named for Shalhevet Pas, a 10-month-old girl shot dead by a Palestinian sniper in Hebron three years ago, is a so-called satellite outpost to the Yitzhar settlement, the site of almost continuous strife between security personnel and settlers. Two weeks ago settlers from the same outpost caused minor damage to a nearby IDF post. Judea and Samaria Police arrested 19 settlers including grassroots settlement leader Itai Zar and two minors during today's operation.
Meanwhile, despite the frosty weather and the steady rainfall today, settlers and right-wing activists turned up by the hundreds to launch one of their biggest anti-pullout initiatives yet - a mass, open-ended, sit-down demonstration opposite the Knesset. Activists - many of them schoolchildren and yeshiva students - gathered throughout the morning gearing up for the protest, which they have pledged will last until Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agrees to hold a national referendum over the disengagement plan.

 

PM Sharon: Harming of Security Forces by Settlers Will Not Be Tolerated
Wednesday, January 5, 2005

The government will use all its power to act against anyone who harms security forces or urges Israel Defense Forces soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate settlements under the disengagement plan, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today, HA'ARETZ reported. "Whoever raises a hand to a soldier or police officer or security official, whoever organizes refusal, whoever threatens - we will act against him with all our power," Sharon said at IDF Central Command headquarters in north Jerusalem.
In the next few days, Sharon noted, the government will hold an extensive discussion on the legal ramifications of the violent clashes on Monday between settlers and security forces evacuating two unauthorized caravans from a West Bank outpost. Sharon thanked the troops for the restraint they exhibited in the face of catcalls and curses, and called on disengagement protesters to refrain from protesting against IDF troops.
The army must remain "at the heart of the national consensus," the prime minister stressed, calling refusal a crime against Israeli society that could divide the Jewish nation. Sharon called on Israelis who oppose the plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank to direct their criticism at the appropriate target: himself.
"I want to say to those who incite, to those who curse, to those who insult: Leave the IDF alone," Sharon said. "If you want to protest, protest against me."

 

IDF Officers Who Refuse to Carry Out Pullout Orders Will Be Discharged
Thursday, January 6, 2005

IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon urged a group of 34 reserve officers who threatened to refuse to evacuate settlements in Gaza and the West Bank to rescind their threats or be discharged from the military, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Ya'alon issued the instructions today in an attempt to tackle the issue of mutiny in the IDF over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.
Ya'alon instructed OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky to summon all of the 34 reserve officers who signed a letter threatening not to obey orders. "Any officer who continues to stand behind his position will be dismissed and kicked out of the IDF," Ya'alon told Kaplinsky. According to a statement issued by Ya'alon's office, the IDF takes the issue very seriously. "The use by reserve officers of their ranks and positions of political statements is very grave and we will act decisively against this phenomenon," the statement said.
The officers, all living in settlements in the West Bank, include four battalion commanders. They sent their letter to the commander of the Binyamin brigade where they serve in a unit made up of local residents.

 

Officers Back Away from Refusal to Evacuate Settlements
Friday, January 7, 2005

Senior figures among the 34 reserve officers who signed a letter stating they would refuse orders to evacuate settlements have now expressed reservations regarding their declared refusal, HA'ARETZ reported. During a meeting this morning with the commander of the Israel Defense Forces' regional Binyamin Brigade, the officers attempted to clarify their position by saying they would rather the IDF abstained from involving them in operations of settlers and settlements evacuation.
The IDF will decide by Sunday whether or not to take disciplinary action against the officers who signed the refusal letter. Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon said Thursday that any officer who failed to retract his signature from the declaration of intent to refuse to evacuate settlements would be stripped of his rank and ousted from the IDF.

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